Whilst I always "think" about my blog... I never actually find the time make the time! to catch up and do some writing. The last time I logged in to have some green sunshine, I accidentally deleted my favourite post and then spent hours trying to find it! Luckily, a lovely man somwhere on the other side of the world, came to my rescue and I was able to re-post it (just with the wrong date!). Don't you hate that, when you just feel so busy you make stupid mistakes when all you're trying to do it be productive, sometimes maybe too productive?

Last time I checked in we were at Week 4 of the Michelle Bridges 12WBT, we are now at WEEK 10!!! It's gone so quick! We've got 3 weeks to go until Round 1 is complete. Due to injury & illness, I haven't trained since Week 5 and as you can imagine, when we don't train, we don't eat great either!!! So needless to say, eating and training went well and truly down the gurgler but I still managed to lose weight. You may say "that's awesome", "congratulations"... but it wasn't good at all. I was losing weight with the bad habits I joined the 12WBT to get rid of! Throw some stress in and you have my body's magic recipe for losing weight; eat crap and stress! Whilst the number on the scales was decreasing, I was getting more and more dissatisfied.

I joined the 12WBT to lose weight in a ways I could be proud of and in ways that required hard work! I'm one of those people who at times can eat loads and loads of crap and pull a good number on the scales! I always counted myself lucky for this until I recently experienced reaching my GOAL WEIGHT with little effort! I stood on the scales at Week 8 and my "magic number" appeared (well I was actually lower than my goal weight!) It was SO dissatisfying. I was really annoyed that I'd reached my goal weight because I knew that the ways in which I'd acheived it were not the healthy ways I wanted to live my life!

Then Easter appeared... and OMG! I ate plenty of chocolate, didn't train and you know what... I gained 600g at Week 9. It was the most satisfying 600g of my life! I was heavier than my goal weight... my body has given my a second chance! A second chance to take the 12WBT by the reins and get to my goal... MY WAY! In ways I can be proud of; eating 3 regular meals & 2 snacks, drinking loads of water (thanks to Judy for the reminder SMSs) and getting back in to training! I feel so grateful that my body has given me this opporunity, so that when we turn up at the finale workout and the finale party (watch our Plaza Ballroom, we're a coming!!!), I can be proud. I can be proud of my journey from start to finish... I'll always know that there were 5 weeks were I slipped off the rails but the best, most satisfying knowledge is that I picked myself up. I picked myself up and my body gave me a second chance. A second chance to live the life I want to. A second chance to embrace the opportunities that life presents but most importantly, a second chance to trust myself and believe that I can achieve!

I'm not saying that I'll never 'slip off' again, I have no doubt I probably will because that's life... but I've done it once and I can do it again. I can dust myself up and pick myself up each and every time I slip. Each and every time I do this, allows me to learn and keeps me heading in the right direction. You never know, sometimes when we do slip, it might purely be because we were heading in the wrong direction. Our slip ups might be actually more than that... it might just be the universe's way of saying... "hey, you think that's the direction your journey should be taking but I've got other ideas"... you just have to believe that where you are right now, is exactly we're you're supposed to be. And if you don't like where you are... make some changes and see what happens. That way you know you gave it everything you had with no regrets.... you never know... you might end up somewhere wonderful....